Marking paint, such as inverted marking spray paint (also known as “upside down paint”), may be used by land surveyors, utility location experts, or anyone that has a need to mark a location on the ground. Marking paint may be used along with paint marking wands and/or paint marking wheels, which provide a convenient method of dispensing the marking paint onto the ground.
In many marking applications, a specified marking paint color may be required for identifying a certain entity. For example, once located, an underground power line may be marked with one color, an underground telephone line may be marked with another color, an underground gas line may be marked with yet another color, and so on. Further, the attributes of marking paint may be important for providing durability and/or ease of removal characteristics. Consequently, the marking paint formulations may vary according to durability and/or ease of removal specifications for different surfaces and uses. For example, municipalities may require that marking paint on streets and sidewalks fade away after only a few days. Therefore, it may be beneficial to develop mechanisms for ensuring, for example, that the proper color and/or formulation of marking paint is being used and/or has been used.
Additionally, in the marking industry, the aggregate cost of the marking paint for marking multiple locations may be substantial. However, while substantial in the aggregate, individual dispensers of marking paint are relatively inexpensive. Accordingly, the consumption of marking paint is hard to track and/or control as the cost of individual dispensers is generally thought of as insignificant by the marking technicians who, therefore, tend to be wasteful. For example, marking paint dispensers are often discarded before being completely emptied. Consequently, over time a significant amount of useful marking paint may be wasted, and, in addition to environmental concerns, the cost of supplying and/or replenishing the marking paint is not optimized.
Accordingly, approaches are needed for easily determining the type of marking paint that is being used in, for example, an underground facility locate operation and for monitoring the consumption of marking paint in the marking industry.